|
Unlike the other resources discussed, the Internet is not well organized. It is possible to find good information, but it may take some time weeding through irrelevant or bad websites. Because free websites do not go through a review process, you need to more stringently evaluate the information. Ask yourself: Who wrote the site? What are their credentials? Can you easily contact the author? For what purpose did the author create the website? If there are suggested resources, how comprehensive do they seem? Do the links work?
Useful Directories to Websites - these have been hand-picked
- BUBL Information Service -- directory to 12,000+ selected Internet resources, from Strathclyde University, Scotland
- INFOMINE -- 110,000+ scholarly Internet resources, by the University of California Libraries.
- Internet Public Library -- selected resources on a wide variety of topics, a project sponsored by the University of Michigan School of Information.
- Internet Scout Project -- annotations to 14,000+ scholarly Internet resources, from the University of Wisconsin
- LII: Librarians' Index to the Internet -- annotations to 11,000+ Internet resources, from the Library of California
- WorldCat -- contains records of hundreds of thousands of Internet sites that librarians have bothered to catalog; can limit your search to Internet Resources if doing an Advanced Search
Selected Search Engines - a.k.a. information organized around keywords tallied by computers
Search engines are sophisticated computer programs, which crawl through websites gathering keywords and indexing the keywords. Search results are then ranked according to the frequency and uniqueness of the words. (Though with some search engines, certain websites will rise to the top if the website owner pays the search engine company.)
When using a search engine, be specific. Put exact phrases in quotation marks, otherwise the computer will automatically look for the words separately. Consult the advanced search feature or the online help for other ways of focusing your search.
Major Search Engines
- AlltheWeb -- One of the largest search engines and quick to boot. Can search websites, audio, pictures, or news. Offers a simple and advanced search screens.
- AltaVista -- One of the old-timers, still around with lots of specialized features, like a directory, search images, audio, video, or news. Can translate pages in different languages.
- Google -- Large search engine which adds a feature of including a ranking of the popularity of a site, as well as the standard analysis of the keywords. Those sites that are linked to more frequently are then considered "better" and get ranked higher in the results. Also has a directory, search images or Usenet newsgroups.
- Teoma -- Newish search engine, which offers results by category, "experts picks" and ranked results. Does not index as many websites compared to other search engines.
- Wisenut -- Newish search engine. Claims to index over 1.5 billion websites. Offers category suggestions for your search terms.
- Yahoo! -- One of the first websites to aid in surfing the net. Started out as a directory to websites, but then added a search engine and wants to offer the user any feature they might find useful, from stock quotes to personal ads. Currently they are using Google as their search engine, but they recently purchased a rival called Inktomi, so I would assume that they'll be using it in short order.
For more information about the various search engines and unique features, consult Search Engine Showdown or Search Engine Watch.
|
